Having the ability to manually grasp objects is an important function in most individuals' normal day-to-day living. Unfortunately, due to disability or age, a person may not have the mobility or flexibility needed to reach items that are located at ground level or on high perches without assistance. For those living without others' support, a tool is required to reach items that are not within grabbing distance from the individual.
Many mechanisms have been devised, which are intended to assist a person with limited mobility to grasp items out of his or her reach. These previous solutions allow persons to extend their reach by multiple feet without needing to bend at the spine or rise from a sitting position. Grasping the grabber in one hand, contraction of the hand is transferred mechanically down a mechanism, wherein a gripping mechanism, usually in the form of a claw, pincer, tab, or suction cup, secures the desired item. The user then merely needs to retract the grabbing device and obtain the captured item from its distal end.
Because many of the individuals who require the aid of a grabber device, such as that described above, have need of it due to decreased mobility, those users have also required a cane or other support in order to be ambulatory. To avoid the need to carry a cane in one hand and a grabber in the other, a device was created that included grabber elements, while still providing distal support in order to be used as a weight-bearing device when not utilized to grab a desired item. However, grabbing an item using a device such as this would leave the user without any means of support. Furthermore, the use of such a grabbing device to reach out away from the user's body and hold an object at the end of this elongated grabbing object would only further tax the user's ability to balance and support himself or herself. The use of such an object would create a dangerous lack of stability in a user who likely already suffers from decreased balance and mobility due to age or disability. Such a lack of support, when support is needed most, could lead to slips and falls that would be severely detrimental to the individual's health.
What is needed is a device that could allow the user the functionality of a grabber, while still maintaining the support of a cane. Specifically, this device should allow one person to grasp an object that is out of their reach without requiring the assistance of another person, but without putting the user in harm's way. Furthermore, this device should be compact and motile enough to allow an individual with decreased mobility and strength to be able to utilize it throughout the course of the average day.